Missionaries

One evening, after worship services a few years ago, I approached Jeff Kreiser, Lakeside's Pastor of Outreach and Extension. He was in conversation with a small group of men, I believe they were a delegation from a Korean church. As I approached him Jeff swung around, opened his arm towards me and pulled me into the conversation.

"This is Karen," he said as he introduced me, "one of Lakeside's missionaries."

I was taken aback. I had never thought of myself in those terms before. I knew I wanted to be a missionary, by that time I had been on two or three mission trips to Mexico, but had never really considered myself to be a missionary. My view of myself changed that evening. Just as it changed again during this recent trip to work with Restoration Ministries in Brazil.

If you read my Facebook profile it describes me as a full-time missionary. When I wrote that I believed I was qualified to call myself a full-time missionary, not only because of my commitment to going to Mexico and building homes for the homeless but also because of the things I do here, in my own backyard. They're not big things, they may even slip under the radar unnoticed, but that's okay by me. I'd rather be a tax collector than a Pharisee (Luke 18:10-13). However, what I do want to be is a lamp shining from a lampstand (Luke 8:16). After working with Restoration Ministries for 11 out of the past 14 days I believe I have added substantial fuel to my humble little lamp.

The majority of the ministry workers at RM are young adults, in their teens through their 30's. Each and every day they immerse themselves in the lives of the peoples of Sao Paulo's favelas. I have great admiration for them all. Walking alongside of them for a week showed me the depth of the faith, hope and love they all contain. It also showed me the depth of their commitment to Jesus. I know the only way I would have the strength to do what they do everyday is by leaning heavily on Jesus. It is very evident through their lives and ministry that that is exactly what they do.

Lakeside's Brazil team walked alongside Tati, Wellington, and the rest of the RM teams for just over a week on this journey. We went on tours of the favelas, learning about the daily lives and living conditions of the poor in Sao Paulo. We met people, young and old, all sizes, shapes and colors. We met them in their homes, on their streets and at Camp California. We hugged them, we laughed with them, we prayed with them, we cried with them and we worshipped with them. Oh how we worshipped with them! I was fortunate enough to participate in three worship services in Sao Paulo and will never forget the faces of the people as they sang and prayed and listened, rapt, to the messages. In the midst of poverty, crime, drugs, alcohol and other diseases I saw people worshipping the Lord with unrestrained joy and passion. I saw people young and old lifting their arms and voices, singing their hearts out to the Lord. I saw people whose life circumstances would break me living their lives for the Lord.

Wednesday evening I worshipped in a home church with a woman whose daughter was killed when the drugs lords walked into her home at night and took her away. The daughter was murdered because she was dating a cop, one of Sao Paulo's few honest cops. Years after his daughter's murder this woman's husband does not sleep nights. Instead, he spends them vigilant, watching over his surviving family members, including his orphaned granddaughter. At that same service was a woman whose husband works in another town. He works there because there he is able to make enough money there to support his wife, children and extended family (about 14 people in all, plus a baby on the way) but he does not make enough money to come home more than once every few weeks. Recently, he has not come home at all and and she worries that he has found another woman in the other town. Both these women and their families were at this home service. I watched their transformed faces as they worshipped the Lord. The depth of their worship left me feeling lacking in the depth of mine.

Those are just two of the many, many stories I heard these past few days. I had my heart broken over and over again for the poor of Sao Paulo. And because of who I am I did not want to leave Sao Paulo until I had fixed the problem. But in reality, there is no quick and easy solution for the poverty and other problems of Sao Paulo. Neither is the problem isolated to Sao Paulo. Poverty, crime, addictions and disease are prevalent throughout our world. As a Christian I am called to be a witness to the world. Jesus expects me to embrace different standards from the world's standards. He expects me to love my neighbor and my enemies. He expects me to forgive those who have wronged me. He expects me to lift up the poor and downtrodden. He expects me to fight for social justice and and to live a life of sacrifice for Him. He also expects me to be a light, a shining example to those who have not yet fully embraced His expectations of them. He expects this from everyone who proclaims that they follow Him. For although we have been saved by grace through faith and not by works, we have been saved for works which God prepared beforehand, for each of us individually (Ephesians 2:8-10). What is your mission? It can be as simple as pulling out your checkbook to support worldwide missions, it can be as simple as raising our next generation of missionaries or it can be as complicated as taking the steps needed to go on a mission trip such as the one our Lakeside Team just returned from. We are called to obedience to Matthew 28:19. United together, in the body of Christ, we can do it! United together, with the strength of Christ, we will do it! Jesus has promised to be with us, "even to the end of the age." He is calling us right now. I know how I am responding. How are you responding?

On a lighter note... after some not very extensive study, I have determined that toilets south of the equator DO flush in a counter-clockwise direction. You are now free to study north of the equator flushing...

posted by Karen J Ruth, Brazil July 2009 team member

LAST DAY THOUGHTS ON BRAZIL from Diane

Thoughts, feelings, emotions all run together and bring such an impact that it almost knocks you to your knees…wanting to bow before a God who loves us so much…and loves these kids even more powerfully than we possibly can. How I want to bring all of these kids back to the US where their opportunities for a good education and a better life would be so much\uld bridge the language barrier and really understand the individual situations….but we hugged and cried and prayed with kids anyway.
Yet they have a certain joy through it all that we can admire. They seem happy in the simple things. Saturday night at camp, we gave out glow sticks. They played with them for an hour, swinging them around in the dark…having fun dancing to crazy music we had brought along…until we finally chased them off to bed. And they also seem to have a closeness to God that we don’t see in a lot of our US kids. At church on Sunday evening (where the music is INCREDIBLE!!!) they sang with a passion…hands raised…voices lifted…little kids, youth, young adults, older people. One song they often sing that has become a favorite for me (and I love that they sing it in Portuguese and add a verse in English)…"My Life is in Your Hands.”
“You don’t have to worry…..you don’t need to be afraid.
Joy comes in the morning. Troubles they don’t last always.
But there’s a friend in Jesus who will wipe your tears away.
And if your heart is broken, just lift your hands and say.
I know that I can make it. I know that I can stand.
No matter what may come my way, my life is in your hands.
With Jesus, I can make it. With Him I know I can stand.
No matter what may come my way, my life is in your hands.”

So would these kids be better off with us? Yes...no….but it’s a mute point. We can’t bring them home anyway. So we come, do what we can, share the love of God, the good news of Jesus, pray lots for them now and when we return home, and be thankful for Restoration Ministries and the on-going everyday work they do with these beautiful kids. Thank you for all your love, support and prayers while we have been here. It has been a blessing to be able to serve God once again in this place I have come to love so dearly.

God's Children-from Lauren

1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 says, "You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory."

And so, we went to camp with the older group of kids this last weekend, loving and encouraging them as if they were our own children. They are God's children. We are God's children.
I was excited for camp this weekend. Although, I was not excited for the walk up to camp..in the dark. Because of the rain, we were going to walk up to the camp after a full day of beautiful home visits and playing with the kids. Yet, we were more than thankful that we were still going to have camp. The rain held off long enough for God to say, 'Alright Lakeside group, my love is pouring out for these children...take them to camp and love them like I do."

As the bus headed to the dirt trail up to camp, it was pitch dark. But, as we reached the road, the bus kept going..and climbing..and pushing. That night, we did not have to walk in the dark. God was gracious and good. We prayed that we would be able to go to camp despite the rain. Not only were we able to go to camp, but we did not have to walk up in the dark. Somehow, on that dark night up to camp, God's light shown bright and brilliant.

The next morning (on Saturday), I got up and ran around camp. It was a beautiful morning and beyond perfect weather. Though we had a week of rain and trials, God's love was showing through that sunshine. And as the older group of kids arrived at camp for the weekend, they greeted us with hugs and kisses. After a full day of playing and hanging out, we had a beautiful service where young teens accepted Christ and cried with pain and joy. As I looked around the room, I prayed that these teens would see and know Christ. And some, for the first time that night, said, "God, please be my heavenly father." We are His children.

I can not explain in words all that has happened on this trip, because it is unexplainable. We have had so many tests and trials on this trip, that by the end of the day on Sunday night, after another small mishap (we have had more than plenty), we just laughed. We laughed with joy because God has done so many great things over this trip and over this past weekend. We smiled with joy because God can and does get us through every mishap, every frustration, every language barrier. He is soooo good.
And like a child, we come to him and say..
"Here I am Lord, Send me. I want to live a life worthy of you."

Beautiful faces

Just some faces of the beautiful kids here. Enjoy. Pray. Also, this evening we will attempt to go back to Camp California. The road has not improved since we have had even more rain all week. This is the rainiest winter in Sao Paulo in 66 years...figures. Satan doesn't want us here.....which means even he knows great things are happening here in the lives of these kids!! Pray for the children since they will bring them in the morning and we will
definitely be walking in and out of camp (a hilly, muddy 5 km. road). Please pray for their hearts to be open to the lessons they will hear. Pray for stomachs and hearts to come away full. For lots of fun, laughter, hugs and love.

CAPOIERA!!

This is an example of Brazilian martial art. Kids in the US go to karate or tai-kwan-do. Kids in Brazil do capoiera....a unique combination of martial arts, dance, gymnastics and music. We all got a turn making fools of ourselves "sparring" with Antonio, the teacher. He is also one of the Restoration Ministries pastors. It is beautiful to see his heart for these kids. He shares about God's love for them, encourages them to stay away from bad behaviors (drugs, smoking, etc), to develop self-discipline and to value education.

Rain Rain Go Away!!!

Please pray for it to dry up. There is a possibility that we won't be able to have our second camp this weekend because of the roads into the camp. After the problems getting stuck last weekend....and the fact that it has been pouring pretty much every day...we need a couple of dry days. We know that if we don't have a camp, God will use our team in other ways. But there will be many disappointed kids. Please please join us in prayer!!
Posted by Diane

Posted by Lauren

“When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You’ll drive for hours to be together, even it it’s only for a short while. You don’t mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You’ll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you’re crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it’s painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together.’- Francis Chan, Soul Cravings

What would happen if we fell in love with God’s people? What would happen if we went to great lengths to serve others or drive for hours because we knew if was going to impact someone for Christ?

As the rain poured down today, we had to cancel the morning kid’s program, and instead do home visitations. It was powerful. Maybe God sent the pouring rain for a reason…because just maybe, someone needed our prayers and love today. I am not talking about conditional love, but Christ’s unconditional, everlasting, persevering, capturing, all-consuming, passionate love. The first visit that my group (Jonatas, Robin, Rodaine, and I) went to was family with eight children. As we sat and listened to the woman through her tears and the sound of rain, she explained her family’s needs, struggles, and pain. Her fourteen year old daughter has drug problems and because of this, the drug dealers have been showing up at their home demanding money. Because of this issue, the parents have had to pay off the dealers, and now have no money to buy food or fix their roof leaks—leaving their children cold and wet at night. Drugs and abuse have hurt her family deeply. She was thankful that we came to pray with her and offer her help. She needed us to come today. After the storm from last night, and leaks all through her house, she was in need of encouragement and God’s love.

The kid’s program went great! Though the rain poured hard, and the streets flooded, we still had about 30 kids or so come. We sang and danced and played goofy games. We ate candy and gave our stickers, and love, and hugs. We took pictures and video taped joyful faces. As we sang, the neighborhood invested with drugs was filled with God’s presence and brought curious faces to hear and see the even. Restoration Ministries has a way of impacting kids, which leads to impacting families and reaching people for Christ.

Nothing can stop God’s love, grace, and hope to spread.

Continue to pray for the people here, for the team, and for Restoration Ministries!! God is doing some great things!

A study in contrasts- Posted by Diane

Today was a visitation day at Iguatemi, one of the favelas where Restoration Ministries has been working for at least 3 years. On my other trips to Sao Paulo, I had really grown close to a beautiful young lady named Leticia. In an area with so many bad influences and temptations, Leticia stands out as being a young woman with a heart for God who desires to do the right things with her life. Leticia loves all things to do with sports and playing ball. She is a gifted athlete and incredible runner. It is sad because living in the favelas and going to the schools in the area, she has no opportunity to develop these gifts. If she was in the states, she would be playing sports for her school and having a great possibility to get into a good university on a scholarship. Instead, she must fight for the education she gets. She is blessed to have two parents in the home, both of whom havee jobs. She desires a good education and hopes to study English and computer science. She will soon be attending English classes at the Restoration Ministries main day center but will have to take a long bus ride to get there. Leticia will turn 15 this Friday. Prayer requests for her would be for her family (parents, 2 older sisters and a younger brother), for staying pure above the influences of sexual impurity, drugs and violence that are a part of her world, for safety on the bus traveling to RM for classes, for educational opportunities that will help her make a better life for herself, and for her to lead a life pleasing to God and His purposes for her. She attends a weekly Bible study that is a pre-requisite to working as a volunteer with RM. Please remember her in your prayers.
By contrast, we visited with another young girl who at16 was holding her 2 month old baby. Daiane is a sweet girl who I met on my very first trip to Brazil 2 1/2 years ago. She has had to drop out of school because of the pregnancy and birth. Both of her parents are unemployed. Her younger brother is running wild. She hopes to go back to school next year.
Another girl (not pictured), Julianna, has also been someone at our camps the last two summers. The first year, she bragged at camp about using some of her prostitution money to buy underwear for camp instead of using it for drugs ....she was 12 at the time. Last summer at camp, we found out that she, at13, now had a young son. She shows violent streaks....actually threatened one of the boys at camp and then stole a knife from the kitchen and hid it in the bushes...planning to use it later...but then was afraid of the darkto go get it.....she was only 13. So today she is hanging out with us, smoking a cigarette and no sign of the child, now 1 1/2, anywhere. Will you pray for these two girls too...and for their baby boys? For them to come to experience God in their lives in a real way that will be bring life-changing behaviors. For them to find a way back into school and to desire an education. For them to realize God's great love for them.
Amen and amen. Thank you for your prayers for these precious kids. And please also pray for the continued program of Restoration Miinistries in Iguatemi and the other favelas where they work. Obrigada and boa noite.
Diane

In from Lauren :D

The most beautiful thing about today was sitting and visiting with families in the favelas, genuinely building relationships, and sharing Christ. We (Jonytas, Italia, Patty, Jim, and I) got to visit one family though that was really special to me. To put this experiences in to words would be an impossible thing to do,but I will do my best to explain. Last year, my mom, Pam, went on this trip to Brazil and had a special bond with a girl at camp named Bruna. This year, when I came on this trip, my mom sent me with a picture of her with Bruna and told me to try and give it to her. I had the opportunity to meet Bruna and her family today and spend time in their home. Though I forgot to bring the picture with me, Jonytas will bring it to her next week. I showed Bruna a picture of my mom, and she smiled..and excitedly exclaimed “PAMELA! PAMELA!”. She was ecstatic. She then ran to her room and gave me a brown wooden box to give to my mom, along with a necklace for me. Her two sisters gave me little presents as well. And, I took a picture with Bruna and her family. It was a moment that was painted with God’s love and grace. My mom would be happy to know that Bruna has a wonderful, God-loving family.
There is so much more I could explain about today or about this week. Being here is a blessing, a gift, a priceless treasure that I hope you can share in. We had some pretty neat experiences today. I love that we serve a God who loves His people dearly and is passionately in love with those that put their faith in Him. This week is about loving God and loving others.Love. Love. Love.

View of the favela

Zip line fun!

It was so fun seeing the kids get to use the zipline that our February team helped repair. That team replaced the support pole which had rotted out completely and made the zip line unusable. Our photos looked like raising the flag at Iwo Jima. After lots off mud, tar, and effort, it's great to see the joy it brought!

Greetings from Brazil!

After a several days of hiking through mud we finally got a break and spent the majority of our day either in a building (with a floor), in a vehicle or on pavement. After breakfast our day started with a tour of a couple of Sao Paulo's favelas. These are communities of people coming together in an area where they can build cheaply and inexpensively. Our guide to this world, Tati (pronounced Taw-chee) , shared stories and personal experiences that were heart-breaking. Tati explained to us how Restoration Ministries tries to help the peoples of Sao Paulo's favelas by building relationships with them. Walking through the favelas this morning and visiting with some of the children that were in camp over the weeked really opened my eyes to how fortunate we are in the US. I know I say this after each of my mission trips to Mexico but this was a further opening of my eyes.

Below we have posted some of the children's smiling faces from this past weekend. See how beautiful and happy these children look? This is absolutely the joy of the Lord. If you could see the conditions these children live in day after day you would have no doubt that the Lord is working powerfully in their lives. For the next four days our group will not be merely touring the favelas but actually working in them, interacting with the kids and thier families. Please pray for us that we will be effective ambassadors for Christ, exhibiting His love to everyone we come in contact with. We cannot do this without your love and prayers supporting us. Thank you for all you are dong from home.

posted by Karen J Ruth

God's love :) ..-in from Lauren Jimison

Where do I start? It was a pretty rough trip here. From the long flight, to a frustrating and trying time in the airport, God has shown that our plans aren’t always His. It’s humbling. As we landed in Sao Paulo, Jimmy, Patty, and I had to go through a separate security because of our bags. After over an hour of confusion, frustration, and miscommunication, they took and kept our bags of toys because we did not have any claims that they were donations and they taxed the speakers as well (a lot of money). But, we made it out safe!

Our journey had just begun. We made the trip out to beautiful Camp California. It was rainy and muddy, but we were determined that God would work despite all of the rain. As we pulled up to the dirt road leading to the camp, our bus got stuck deep in mud. We hoped and prayed and did what we could to get the bus up, but a pretty 45 minute walk up to camp was the outcome. And, thankfully, the bus was pulled out later. Hooray! Sadly, because of all the troubles, the kids were not able to come up Friday night. Yet, the next morning, they arrived, after walking the long climb as well, with excitement. We instantly became celebrities. God was and is at work.

The camp was great! It was full of God’s grace and love and His peace flowed from the dewy rain that kept us inside all Saturday. That did not hold back the extatic kids from running around and grabbing our hands and jumping up and down during worship. :) It is incredible the relationship you can build with kids in a day, even with a language barrier. Though it may seem like a barrier, at times, it is not, in fact….it may push us even closer to using love to show God to kids yearning for a heavenly Father.

After walking back down from the camp and the buses getting stuck again, we made it to the hotel ..showered quick, and joined Restoration Ministries for church. It was wonderful!!! Jonatas gave an amazing message and we felt God’s love fill the small, but powerfully loud room. It was great! Well, I could write tons and loads, but I gotta go! Pray that God’s grace and presence fills our tour of the flavelas tomorrow :) We are excited to see what God is going to do.

-Lauren :D

Preparations are almost complete

This morning our Brazil Team met at Lakeside Church to go over our curriculum, crafts, games and music. We shared prayers and laughter as we worked hard to get everything ready for our departure next Thursday. Take a peek at our pictures and video to see our progress.

Tonight we will meet at the Lakeside 6:30 service for our Commissioning. I hope you can come join us.

posted by Karen J Ruth, Brazil July 2009 Team member

Only 10 more days!

We only have 10 days until our departure date. We've been busy planning lessons, music and crafts. We've been collecting support and supplies. Things are beginning to move fast and getting exciting.

This evening we met at PowerHouse Ministries and bagged about 800 bags of candies to pass out to the children in the favelas. Each bag has 4 pieces of candy: a peppermint, a tootsie roll, a dum-dum sucker and a piece of bubblegum. As we packed we discussed curriculum, lessons, crafts, translations and packing. We shared prayer requests, and we sang and laughed together. God has great plans for this trip, that much was evident from our fellowship this evening. Take a peek at our pictures, we were hard at work on our candy production line.

Please continue to pray for us as we get even closer to our departure date. Please pray that we keep our hearts and minds open to God's will for us as we embark upon this adventure. Please pray for those we will be interacting with, the families and children of Sao Paulo's favelas as well as those who work every day with Restoration Ministries, so that we can have a positive impact on their lives. Please pray that God will have prepared their hearts to be open to His message and they will be eager hear the message we have to share with them.

Please also pray we all remain healthy before, during and after our trip. And for our safety as we travel to and from Brazil.

Thank you to all of you who are supporting us in this venture, whether it is financially, emotionally, with practical matters or simply with prayer. It does make a difference to all of us involved in this journey.

Posted by: Karen J Ruth, Brazil July 2009 team member

24 days to go!!

Yep....we have 24 days until our team of 8 leaves for Sao Paulo. This trip will be from July 23 - Aug 4, 2009. We will be working with Restoration Ministries. They minister to kids in 5 different favelas (slums) of this huge sprawling city of 20 million people. Check out the RM website at www.themotas.org For most of our team, this trip is a first experience in Brazil. For one, Jim Record, it is his 3rd trip. For me, my 6th. I feel passionate about what this ministry does and how God works through them in the lives of these children and families. We will be running two camps for 80 kids on each of the weekends. RM owns a beautiful property called Camp California just outside of the city. There we take the kids away and teach them about God and how much he loves them. We have a lesson time, crafts, recreation, games, competitions, free time where they can swim, zip line, play on the play structure or just hang out. They get fed 3 great meals a day. They drink fresh o.j. made from the oranges grown on the trees right there at camp. They have clean cabins, showers and a nice bed. All of these things are luxuries we just take for granted. During the week back in Sao Paulo, we will get an overview of what makes up life in the favelas, run a VBS type ministry program on the streets in two of the favelas, visit home and families and pray with them, teach Engligh, participate in Capoiera (Brazilian martial arts) and just hang out with and encourage the staff of Restoration Ministries. Most of all we will be hugging and loving kids all week and making them feel special.
One thing we know....we wouldn't be doing this trip without God and prayer being a huge part of this! And without the prayer and often financial support of our friends and families! Muito obrigada (thank you very much...in Portuguese, the language of Brazil).
We have good internet access while in the city, just not from the camp. We will try to update the blog as often as possible. All of our team members will have access and be able to update before, during and after the trip. We will try to post pictures as much as possible too.
For videos of past trip, check out these YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GJSGNBEjng and also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUnsTxo5boM&feature=related
More soon......Diane Slusher
Team members for July 2009: Jim and Patty Record, Christina Christie, Karen Ruth, Robin Drummond, Lauren Jimison, Rodain Soto, and Diane Slusher